A Boston Reunion: Victoria and Tyler

We've continued to follow Tyler Dodd, a man who jumped in to help the wounded at the Boston Marathon. Read his first-hand account of that day published last week on Esquire.com.

BOSTON -- Victoria McGrath had just been brought to Tufts Medical Center from the medical tent in Copley Square, and there were only two words coming out of her mouth: "Where's Tyler? Where's Tyler?"

She couldn't stop asking for the mysterious man who had calmed her nerves following the Boston Marathon explosion that riddled her left leg with shrapnel.

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It was the most unlikely of human connections, and it was formed in the midst of blood, missing limbs and the chaos of screaming victims.

She, a 20-year-old Northeastern University business major, and he, the 30-year-old nomad with a checkered past, found each other in the medical tent.

And after more than a week, they found each other again yesterday, deep inside Tufts Medical, in an emotional embrace.

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"She was sitting there in a wheelchair," Dodd recalled of their reunion yesterday. "They walked me in. We just looked at each other, and then we probably spent a good eight minutes hugging."

She wasn't supposed to stand up, but when Tyler walked into the room, she raised herself on one shaky leg. Everyone in the room was crying.

In between the streaming tears, Dodd could make out Mrs. McGrath mouthing the words, "Thank you. Thank you."

"Victoria told me that she remembered my voice and that the tone of my voice was what calmed her down and helped her make it through," Dodd said afterwards. "And then she looked at me and said, 'I remember your eyes.' It was just the craziest most spiritual moment I've had in my entire life."

It was a magical one, but it did not come without worry and speculation. Dodd had been hoping to meet McGrath ever since the tragic events of Patriots Day.

Earlier that morning, Dodd sat drinking hospital coffee in Tufts cafeteria, unsure of how the rest of the day would unfold.

"I'm nervous. Not because of the media, but to meet her," he said. "If I close my eyes, I can remember her eyes, I can see every detail of her face. But her voice is really what sticks with me."

Clearly the two had both felt the spiritual connection, about which Dodd has
spoken repeatedly
this week. But it was not always clear that Dodd was the man the media had portrayed, whom everyone thought was a war veteran. Dodd explained to Esquire why the confusion arose.

"I did tell Victoria I injured my arm in combat," he said. "But she said it was OK. She didn't mind, because I had said exactly what she needed to hear at the time."

The truth, of course, is that the scar running along the inside of Dodd's left bicep did not come from shrapnel, as he told her. The truth is that he was shot there, some years ago.

But why was he shot? And who is the real Tyler Dodd?

The real Tyler Dodd became an alcoholic and a drug user shortly after leaving high school in his hometown of Bartlesville, Okla. He was a subcontractor who worked on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico for six weeks at a time, partying in New Orleans during his two weeks off. He slid towards crime to support his alcoholism when he moved Wyoming two years later. His brother is the military man of the family, serving in the Air Force.

And while Tyler managed to get sober a few times, he continued to get into trouble with the law in Amarillo -- where he was shot in a robbery -- San Antonio, Miami, and Orlando. Then he lost his father to cancer. "I lived with self pity for a long time. I felt I had a reason to drink and use drugs. I thought, 'If you had been through what I've been through, you would drink and use drugs also.' Self pity is a terrible, dangerous character defect of mine."

It wasn't until he moved to the northeast and had a
fateful run-in
with a police officer, that things truly began to change.

Dodd has always tried to help others, but it was his need to be accepted that got him into trouble in New York City in August of 2012.

He witnessed a man steal a woman's purse, and watched as no one did anything to stop him. Dodd chased the thief down and tackled him to the ground, then waited for the authorities. Unlucky for him, the police officer who showed up was working with the reality show "Stars Earn Stripes," which meant Dodd's story made headlines and included his claim that he was a Marine. He was inebriated at the time, and had instinctively lied about his background to avoid arrest.

"It kind of backfired on me," he said.

At seven years old, Tyler helped save a three-year-old girl from drowning in a pool, the same that allowed him pull his friend Ryan Scott away from an oncoming car in high school.

Dodd, Scott and a friend had been walking home from the park at dusk and joking around.

"Suddenly I got this really hard pull on my T-shirt, almost choking me," Scott told Esquire. "Next thing I know, a car flew by. I would have gotten clipped."

"I've been in all these places all these times, and I can't take any credit for it, because I have no control over these situations."

He credits God.

But it was the opportunity to save Victoria McGrath that has him feeling like he's finally found the right path. He's been sober now for six months, praying every morning and night.

Yesterday in Tufts Medical Center, everything came together for a man who's just looking to do the right thing from here on out.

"I told her that she changed my life," Dodd said. "And then she said one of the most powerful things I have ever heard—she said she would go through it again, for me. For us. For the people that helped her."

Asked how he responded to her message, he simply told her, "Thank you."